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http://www.france24.com/en/focus/20141119-exclusive-iran-iraq-kurdish-komala-is-islamic-state-leftist/ - Via The WIP
IRAN KURDISH FEMALE FIGHTERS HOPE TO FIGHT AGAINST ISIS,
BUT NATIONAL & ETHNIC TIES & POLITICAL FRICTIONS, CREATE CHALLENGES
November 19, 2014 - Kurdish peshmerga fighters in
Iraq are on the frontline of the battle against the Islamic State (IS)
organisation. But for a young Iranian Kurdish fighter and her group, it’s a
struggle to join her fellow Kurds in the fight against their common enemy.
Kawsar, a pretty, 24-year-old Iranian Kurd, is a
peshmerga fighter. She’s also a member of Komala, a Marxist-Leninist group that
emerged after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, which has since adopted a
social democratic ideology.
When IS militants swept through swathes of northern
Iraq this summer, Kawsar and her comrades left their native Iran to join their
fellow Kurdish fighters in the historic battle against the militant Islamist
group.
She now lives in the Iraqi Kurdish city of
Sulaymaniyah, ready and willing to join the fight against IS. But that’s easier
said than done.
Ordered out of an enemy-free zone
On a clear autumn day, Kawsar and her group leave Sulaymaniyah and head toward
the frontline line near the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk. At least that’s what
Kawsar hopes.
"They are extremists,” she explains as their
car bumps in the direction of the frontline. “I am against any extremist
radical ideology, because they don't believe in humanity and in women's
rights."
As the group heads closer to the frontline, the
Kurdish officer accompanying the Komala group escorts them to a secure zone
which has been under Iraqi Kurdish control for the past few weeks.
There’s no enemy to fight here.
“I would love to have a chance to fight them,” says
Kawsar. “But it seems that there's no fighting right now…” she trails off
disappointed.
Barely ten minutes later, orders from senior
peshmerga commanders arrive. The group of Iranian Kurdish fighters is asked to
leave the area.
Tehran ties leave leftist Iranian Kurds out in the
cold
Spread across Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, the Kurds have been described as
the largest ethnic group without a state. Over the past few decades, Kurdish
history has been littered with bloody struggles against central authorities in
Ankara, Baghdad, Tehran and Damascus. But the Kurds also have a history of
deadly internecine struggles between rival Kurdish groups.
For Komala fighters, the reason for their exclusion
in the pan-Kurdish fight against IS is obvious: Iraq’s Kurdish authorities, in
line with the central Iraqi government in Baghdad, are allied with the Islamic
Republic of Iran. For Komala, a staunchly leftist group, the government in
Tehran is the enemy.
Iran is heavily involved in the current anti-IS
fight in Iraq. The secretive leader of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Quds
force, Gen. Qassim Suleimani, is believed to have made at least one trip to the
peshmerga frontline in Iraqi Kurdistan in recent months. Baghdad is also using
Shiite militias closely allied with Tehran in the fight against IS. In this
anti-IS coalition, a small group of leftist Iranian Kurds is an inconvenience,
not a battle asset.
But Kawsar and her associates are tenacious. They
head to another battlefront and bluff their way past checkpoints, telling guards
they’re heading to see the area’s peshmerga commander.
‘I finally did it’
At one stage, in the fog of war, as other peshmerga units fire at IS positions,
the group of Iranian fighters take advantage of the confusion and join the
battle.
Kawsar takes position and joins her fellow Kurdish
fighters in firing at IS positions. She is thrilled: “I finally did it. I am so
happy about it."
But her happiness is short-lived.
A suspicious senior military officer soon calls
them up for questioning.
“Who are you?” the senior officer asks.
“We belong to Komala,” says one of the fighters.
“Oh, I see,” replies the senior officer. “Komala…welcome.
You have to go and check with the area commander. You got a car? Just follow
me. I am heading there.”
Kawsar knows where this is heading. "They
said, ‘don't come again, not until we call you back,’” she tells FRANCE 24. “This
is an excuse, I think they'll never call us back because of their political
stuff. I don't like politics," she adds hopelessly.
The official stance is that Iranian Kurds are kept
aside from combat because "their help is not necessary" – an odd
justification considering the enemy ranks are steadily swelling with new
jihadist recruits.
Despite her determination, it's unlikely Kawsar
will be fighting the Islamic State group anytime soon.
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